Affiliate programs

[Lisa Meinert]

Hello, I just wondered if someone could tell me how it would work if I've found a company who does not have an affiliate program but is willing to let me recommend there products. How would they track my recommendations? What commission should they pay? How would I link their product to my account? Does anyone know where I can get a small free course on this or how to go about this as I'm completely new to this.

Regards

 

[MJMc]

hi, helps to know what industry you're looking to be an affiliate for.

The two businesses I am involved in run affiliate schemes, but both are managed differently.

Web Hosting @ 10% commission
We use WHMCS to manage our servers, this has in-built affiliate tracking. Once registered, the affiliate can promote the services via their own unique tracking code. They can email this, use banners etc. Or even (as some of our affiliates do) have their unique affilate tracking URL translated into a QR code and given out as printed media (business cards, fliers, etc)

Web Design / Digital Media @ 25% commission
Simple customer referrals via our CRM. So when an affiliate contacts us to say they've promoted the services to XYZ ltd, we flag that in our CRm software.. if that business contacts us with 6 months, the affiliate is paid 25% commission of the total job before VAT. e.g, eCommerce site costs £5000 exVAT, affiliate will invoice us for £1250. Once we are paid, the affiliate is paid.

Don't know why you need a course?.. in it's simplest terms.. it's just selling... it's about getting out and about and selling.

 

[mattk]

How would they track my recommendations?

Google Analytics should be able to do this. It would depend on a lot of trust though. How confident are you that they will pay up for all the referrals/sales you send to them?

 

[Lisa Meinert]

Google Analytics should be able to do this. It would depend on a lot of trust though. How confident are you that they will pay up for all the referrals/sales you send to them?

Thanks for your reply, yes I get it would and you just don't know if they are trustworthy, but I assume if they get customers out of eat, don't bite the hand that feeds you. is there a program they can download which will tell them?

 

[Lisa Meinert]

hi, helps to know what industry you're looking to be an affiliate for.

The two businesses I am involved in run affiliate schemes, but both are managed differently.

Web Hosting @ 10% commission
We use WHMCS to manage our servers, this has in-built affiliate tracking. Once registered, the affiliate can promote the services via their own unique tracking code. They can email this, use banners etc. Or even (as some of our affiliates do) have their unique affilate tracking URL translated into a QR code and given out as printed media (business cards, fliers, etc)

Web Design / Digital Media @ 25% commission
Simple customer referrals via our CRM. So when an affiliate contacts us to say they've promoted the services to XYZ ltd, we flag that in our CRm software.. if that business contacts us with 6 months, the affiliate is paid 25% commission of the total job before VAT. e.g, eCommerce site costs £5000 exVAT, affiliate will invoice us for £1250. Once we are paid, the affiliate is paid.

Don't know why you need a course?.. in it's simplest terms.. it's just selling... it's about getting out and about and selling.

Thank you for your reply. I'm looking at cleaning equipment. I'll have a look at these thank you. I just thought to do a small basic free course just to get to grips with it, but I guess there's so much info out there...

 

[MJMc]

Thank you for your reply. I'm looking at cleaning equipment. I'll have a look at these thank you. I just thought to do a small basic free course just to get to grips with it, but I guess there's so much info out there...

Sounds like this could be a bit of a mare to manage... And involves a lot of trust on your behalf. Id now suggest you have a contract in place with the supplier and have some system in place to manage affiliate sales.

 

[MJMc]

Sounds like this could be a bit of a mare to manage... And involves a lot of trust on your behalf. Id now suggest you have a contract in place with the supplier and have some system in place to manage affiliate sales.

an example..

I only do this for two affiliates for the Digital Agency, because they've been an affiliates with us for 10+ years, while they're commission only, we do provide them with company business cards and own company emails. That way, they can be assured we're not going to rip them off...

it's one thing to consider!

I only do this for affiliates after we can trust them. Most affiliates only bring in two, maybe three jobs per year, then give up because the realise it can be canny hard. These guys bring in about 6 jobs a year and based on the job, can earn a good wedge.

NH earned £26k with us in 2016.

Age old saying, it's not what you know, it's who... I hope you know a lot of people who need cleaning products.

hope this helps, M